Capillary carriers of the type employing small capillary tubes that can be placed in a fluid system are known in the art. The capillary carrier provides, besides support for the capillary tube, a fluid interface between the fluid system and the capillary tube. This interface could involve either pipes or hoses, whereby fluid is led from the fluid system to the capillary carrier, and from the capillary carrier back to the fluid system.
The main applications for small capillaries involve the administration of doses of a substance in small quantities. This could be a dosage of medication into a patient, or a dosage of reagent for analysing a liquid sample. Some of these applications, especially those involving the dosage of medication into patients, are very sensitive regarding the dosage amount. Some medications, like insulin for diabetic patients, are deadly if the dosage amount exceeds a given limit, often the lethal amount does not greatly exceed the normal dosage amount.
Regarding the use of insulin, diabetic patients can improve their quality of life and life expectancy by maintaining their blood glucose concentration close to the natural level of a healthy person. However, the amount of insulin required to maintain this level is quite low, and even in a dilution of insulin the dosage amount is rather low. Exceeding the level of insulin in the blood can be life threatening for the patient.
In all known capillary carrier system, there exists the risk of supplying an overdose if a fault situation occurs inside the capillary carrier. This fault situation could be, among other things, a broken capillary tube or a broken seal between capillary tube and capillary carrier.
It is the general object of this invention to provide a safety system within a capillary carrier, by which an increased dosage amount in a fault situation is avoided.